Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

IDF balloons monitoring Israel-Gaza border broke down weeks before Hamas attack

The Israeli army failed to fix the border monitoring technology last week; it is now examining the possibility that Hamas sabotaged the balloons

This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Three observation balloons that are used by the Israel Defense Forces to monitor the Gaza border broke down in the past few weeks but were not replaced with alternative measures.

The IDF initially said this was the result of technical failure, but it is now examining the possibility that Hamas felled the balloons as part of its preparations for its lethal attack on Israel.

Observation balloons are a significant tool in the early warning systems protecting the Gaza border, and carry advanced technological tools and cameras. The three balloons operated in the northern, central and southern sections of the border.

Some of the balloons fell inside Israeli territory, but the IDF failed to fix them last week. It did not beef up its early warning systems with alternative measures, or with additional forces. IDF spotters and commanders in the border units asked for the observation balloons to be returned to action, but a technician who was dispatched last week was unable to fix them, and the repair was postponed until this week.

It is not the first time that observation balloons along the Gaza border have stopped working. In June 2022, a balloon fell inside Gaza near the Erez Crossing. The IDF was unable to retrieve the technological means installed on the observation balloon.

An IDF spokesperson said: “The State of Israel and the IDF are at war with a murderous terrorist organization and we are unable to investigate the reporter’s questions in depth at this time. The IDF is responsible for the security of the state and its citizens – and in the events of Saturday morning we failed in this mission. At the end of the campaign, we will clarify the details in depth and conduct a thorough investigation into this matter.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.